Moving spiral stairway or elevator.



PATBNTBD MAR. 24, 1903-.. LG. soUDBR.

MOVING SPIR AL STAIRWAY 0R ELEVATOR.

\ APILIOATION FILED MAR. 24, 1902. N0 MODEL.

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PATBNTBD MAR. 24.1903. A L. G. soUDER.

MOVING SPIRAL STAIRWAY 0R ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAB.. 24. 1902.

" No MODEL."

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MOVING SPIRAL STAIRWAY 0R BLEVATOR.

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H0 MODEL UNITED' STATES .ATENT Frise.

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SPECIFIGATIoNiformmg palper Letters Patent No: 723,325, dated March 24, 190s.

Application ned nach 24,1902, saai Na. 99,594.. (no man To `MZ whom it mrtg/concern! Be it known thatjl, LEAMON SOUDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at -the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania,.hav'elinvented certain new and useful Improvements in l\[oving'` Spiral Stairways or Elevators, of which the'following is a specification.

My invention has relation to a movingstairway or elevator, and'in such connection it relates more particularly to an improvement upon that type ofstairway or elevator illuswaythat thesteps may ascend Vor descend in a spiral, thus forming a moving spiral stairway-or elevator. p

`The principal objects of my present invention are, rst, to provide a spiral stairway or elevator wherein` the treads and risers constituting the steps of the stairway are iieXed at right angles to each other when the steps ascend and descend, and the steps when so iiexed travel in a spiral path either in ascend- `ing or descending, or both, and said treads and 'risers leXing" intothe' same plane whileV changing from'an ascending to a descending flight, or -vice versa, and, second, to provide" `in conjunction with such a moving spiral stairway or elevator a landing-block ateach door traveled 'by the stairway, said blockbeing of peculiarconstruction andarrangement so that the passenger may readily enter or leave-thesteps of the stairway while the stair-V way is in motion.

The nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the acdrawings, forming part hereof,

gitudinal sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.' Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional vieW of a portion of one of the spiral stairways. Fig. 6- is an enlarged detail view of the guide-rail projected upon a flat sur- `face, showing the means for iieXing the risers into the same plane as the treads ofthe steps. Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 7 'lof Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a perspective view, enlarged, of one of the spiral staircases, a landing or floor, and a landing-block on the floor; andFig. 9 is an interior view of the landing-block projected upon a fiat surface. In` the drawings the stairway or elevator is illustrated as double-that is to say, there is at 'the right hand of Figs. l and 2 an ascending spiral stairway or elevator and at the left hand of said figures a descending spiral stairway or elevator. It is, however, obvious that but one of these stairways or elevators need be used; but for thesake of economy and convenience it will be found that the double stairway or elevator is preferable.

`lteferring to the drawings, each staircase is provided withI an outer spiral rail a and an inner spiral rail a', these two rails forming the track upon which `the steps of the stairway or elevator travel. As clearly indicated in'Fig. 5, theserails a and a' are prei'- erably supported upon brackets a2. At the upper and lower end of the stairway the spiral rails ct and d terminate in circular rails d3, arranged in a horizontal plane, and in plan they are approximately circular. The

steps of the stairway consist of alternate i.

treads b and risers b. The construction and arrangement of these treads and-risers are indicated clearly in Figs. 3 and 4 and are substantially the same as the construction and arrangement of the treads and risers illustrated in my previous patent, No. 625,905. The, tread b is, however, segmental shaped Vin planand is recessed to receive the wings d, which are pivoted, asatldf, intermediate of the ends in the treadso as to oscillate in the recess of the tread. The risers b are each connected by the side plates bito pins d2 on the inner and outer perimeters ofadljacent wings d. The pins d2 and the pivot d are arranged in the same line or plane. Each tread h carries at its outer perimetera roll or wheel b3, riding on the outer rail of I OO.

the trackway a3 and on the outer rail a of the the under face of each tread bis formed a.

bearing or bracket b4, in which is supported a wheel b5, riding on the inner rail a of the spiral trackway and on the inner of the h0ri zontal rails a3, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5. These wheels b5 not only serve as guides for the inner perimeter of the treads, but also as supports to maintain the treads in horizontal position atall points on the stairway. The wheels or rolls d3 on the risers b are preferably of less width than the wheels b3 of the treads b, although both wheels are preferably of the same diameter. This difference in widths of the wheels b3 and d3 forms one part of the means for flexing the riser b into either right-angled relationship to the tread when the steps are formed on the spiral portion of the stairway or into horizontal relationship to the tread when the landings are reached. The other and coacting portion of this means resides in the formation of a channeled guideway f (see Figs. 6 and 7) at the parts of the stairway wh ere the spiral and horizontal portions merge. This guidewayfhas on its interior a main groovef', on the upper edge of which all the wheelsbSand dare normally adapted to travel. At a point slightly in advance of where the fiexing of the riser is to take place there is formed in the wayfau auxiliary wedge piece or projection f2, which is thick enough to only permit the rolls or wheels d3 to enter and to ride on the upper face of the main groove j", while the other wheels b3 are forced to ride over the wedge-piece, as clearly illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 6. By thus permitting the wheels d3 to enter and ride on the upper surface of the groove f while the wheels b3 are forced to ride over the wedgepiece the necessary lexures of the risers and treads into either step-sections or into the same horizontal plane are accomplished. This mechanism is substantially similar to corresponding mechanism illustrated in my former patent, No. 625,905, and operates in substantially the manner described in said patent.

The means for positively driving the treads and risers of the stairway comprises, preferably, an endless band or rope g. This rope or band g travels spirally up one staircase and down the eomplemental staircase where two stair-ways are used, as in Figs. l and 2. To enable the rope or band g to grip the treads and risers, the exterior wheels b3 and d3 are each provided with a stationary shaft having an enlarged head g', in which are formed two grooves g2 and g3, diagonally crossing each other. When the steps are drawn upward in the spiral, the rope or band g sinks into the grooves g2 of the shafts on the treads and risers, and when the steps are drawn downward the band or rope g sinks into the other grooves g3. The rope or band g is propelled by the following preferred mechanism: The main driving-shaft h is arranged vertically midway between the two spirals of the stairway and is driven from a gear-wheel' 71. by mechanism. (Not shown.) At or near its upper and lower ends it is provided with a drum h2 and a drum h3, around which the rope or band g is passed, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The band or rope g is guided in proper relationship when not engaging the steps of the staircase by a series of guide sheaves or rollers h4. The Vertically-grooved drums e, in which the inner wheels c2 of the treads b travel, are also caused to revolve at a speed required by the travel of the stairs by the following preferred means: The central drivingshaft h is provided with an upper and lower gear-wheel fm, each of which gears with the gear-wheels m', fixed to a vertical shaft m2, carrying a drum e. As the shaft h rotates to move the band or rope g, and consequently the steps of the stairway, the drums e rotate correspondingly to guide the inner ends of the treads up or down and around in a spiral direction. v

When the stairway travels up or down through three or more iioors Without intermediate iiexing of the steps into a horizontal plane, there may be arranged at intermediate iioors a landing by means of which the passenger may enter or leavethe stairway while the steps are traveling up or down spirally in the stairway. A preferred form of such a landing is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings,and it consists, essentially, in building up from the floor n of the structureA a block n', having the following contour or shape. The inner edge n2 of this block n' follows the spiral line drawn through the outer corners bloot the treads b, and the block slopes gradually upward and downward from-that line away from the stairway until it merges into the floor n. The block n thus forms virtually a spiral continuation of the stairway leading tangentially from the outer edge of the steps to the floor, and thus ingress or egress to or from the stairway is made easy and convenient. If but one stairway is desired, it is obvious that the band or rope g may travel either downward or upward when not in connection with the steps over suitable guiding sheaves or rollers, and the treads and risers can likewise travel on the return flexed into a single plane to the point Where the stairway begins to be formed.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. An elevating conveyer of risers and treads forming a belt, having inclined spiral portions wherein the risers and treads are flexed into steps to form carrying-sections for the load and having other portions wherein both risers and treads are flexed into a horizontal plane. A

2. In an elevating conveyer or stairway Ioo - the spiral ways for ilexing the risers and treads into step-like carrying-sections.

"4. In a spiral elevator or moving stairway,

a series of risers and treads hinged together, means for flexing the risers and treads into a horizontalplane at the beginning and end of the stairway, and means for flexing the risers and treads into steps along the spiral course of the stairway.

5. A spiral elevator or moving stairway, consisting of a chain of successive links pivoted together and forming a continuous surface, combined with means for changing the angle of certain of the links with respect to alternate links whereby the chain may form either a horizontal traveling platform or a series of steps traveling along a spiral course.

6. In a spiral elevator or moving stairway, an endless chain of successive risers and treads hinged together combined with means for flexing the risers and treads into a horizontal plane at the beginning of the stairway, means for exing. the risers and treads into steps, means for elevating the steps along a spiral course, means for flexing the risers and treads into a horizontal plane at the top of the stairway, means for thereafter flexing the risers and treads into steps, and means for lowering the steps so formed. along a second spiral course.

7. In a spiral elevator or moving stairway, a series of risers and treads, means for flexing the same into step-like sections along a spiral way, and a landing-block located intermediate of the ends of the spiral way and forming a spiral continuation of the spiral way and leading tangentially away from the outer edge of the step-sections.

8. An elevating-conveyer of risers and treads forming a belt having spiral portions wherein the risers and treads are flexed into steps to form carryingsections for the load and having other portions wherein both risers and treads are flexed into a horizontal plane, said load-carrying sections adapted to travel spirally up or down on an incline, a central support -around which the load-carrying sections travel in their spiral course, said central support being arranged at one edge of the load-carrying sections and adapted to guide the same vertically in their travel.

9. An elevating-conveyer wherein ythe loadcarrying sections travel spirally upward during one part of the course and spirally downward during another part of said course, two separate and distinct central supports, the load-carrying sections traveling around one of said supports in ascending and around the other in descending.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

LEAMON G. SOUDER. Witnesses:

J. WALTER DoUGLAss, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

